An Adaptive Neighbourhood Structuring Element Based Enhancement Technique for Nuclear Images

Abstract

The application of radioactive isotopes for imaging human body parts developed into nuclear imaging technology, including single photon emission computed tomography imaging (SPECT). Visual inspection and interpretation of SPECT images is a challenging task as there is random scattering of photons during the image reconstruction process which affects its contrast. Recognizing even gradual changes in color intensity aids in the interpretation of images. The paper proposes a new image processing technique to enhance cardiac nuclear images generated by a single photon emission computed tomography device by improving the contrast features. The method utilizes the concept of adaptive techniques in morphology. As an initial step, color space conversion is performed to convert the image to a color space suitable for its processing and each slice or tile corresponding to the gated cardiac cycle is extracted. In the second step, the size of the neighbourhood area is selected for the operation of the structuring element. Morphological processing is done as a final step. This methodology can be used as a pre-processing module for computer aided diagnostic systems. The proposed method employs a novel image dependent technique for the enhancement of cardiac SPECT images making use of morphology in a suitable color space. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations prove the effective performance of the proposed algorithm in enhancing cardiac SPECT images. Index Terms-Morphological processing, nuclear medicine imaging, positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography. Since 2008 she has been dedicated to the design and development of signal and image processing systems. She developed a low complexity space time adaptive system algorithm for sonar detection and presented it in 2010 IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop conducted in Jerusalem. As an IEEE member for the past 6 years, her research interests include signal processing, image processing and use of adaptive techniques in image processing. Jayasree V. K. received the M.